


Secrets

by LionessRinoaVIII



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Angelo is a good girl, Balamb Garden (Final Fantasy VIII), Christmas Fluff, Day At The Beach, Domestic Fluff, Engagement, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Girls' Night, POV First Person, Parent Rinoa Heartilly, Parent Squall Leonhart, Post-Canon, Rinoa's POV, Romantic Fluff, Secrets, SeeD Rinoa Heartilly, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27832015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LionessRinoaVIII/pseuds/LionessRinoaVIII
Summary: Rinoa Heartilly is a few short months from finally becoming a SeeD, and her girls day out with Selphie and Quistis uncovers a little secret that Commander Squall Leonhart is desperate to hear. Pure romantic fluff and friendship!
Relationships: Rinoa Heartilly/Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht/Quistis Trepe
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Xadrea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xadrea/gifts).



It was early yet in the still afternoon as I nursed a hot cup of Gysahl Green Tea in the alcove by the fireplace. It was surprisingly cozy in the small coffee shop for as warm as winters in Balamb were, but I was glad for it. I missed the white Christmas’s of Deling City more with each passing year. Angelo was curled up at my feet, snoozing after a long week of training, and I was absentmindedly stroking her soft tufts of brown fur when my best friends in all the world suddenly rounded the corner.

“Rinoa Heartilly, what do you think you’re doing?” A small and bubbly voice bounced from a pair of bright yellow overalls and Selphie’s slender hands were planted firmly on her hips. “Squall always has you all to himself, I feel like I never see you anymore! So new rule, if Squall is out on a mission, you’re hanging out with me instead of sulking by your lonesome, kay?”

I hadn’t been sulking, but I grinned at her all the same. Selphie had always gone out of her way to make me feel like I belonged, and I was so grateful. The decision to leave the Forest Owls after the liberation in Timber was hard, but I was happy to have been enrolled in the Garden. Normally Garden didn’t accept students over fifteen, but Headmaster Cid had been gracious enough to make an exception. I was to graduate as a SeeD in the spring, and Squall had never been prouder of me. I leaned forward with my arms behind my back and narrowed my eyes playfully at my friend. “And just what do you and Quisty have in mind?”

Quistis was smirking at me over Selphie’s shoulder, and I was so happy to see them both. It had been a long time between school and being busy planning my wedding. Squall and I were getting married at the start of the new year, and that was only a short month away. Quistis tapped her chin, as if pretending to think real hard before rolling her dark blue eyes at me. “Hm, let me think. A certain Sorceress is about to join our ranks, and she  _ still  _ hasn’t participated in SeeD tradition, wouldn’t you say so, Selphie?”

I didn’t like the mischief that danced in Selphie’s bright green eyes and she snickered as she reached for my hand. “It’s a  _ travesty.  _ But she’s going to learn today, yes siree!” I blinked stupidly at both of them and Angelo huffed, irritated that our loud talking was getting in the way of her beauty rest. What SeeD tradition? I was already slated for graduation, and of course that meant I’d be attending the SeeD Inauguration Ball. But beyond that? Squall had never mentioned any special traditions.

“Is that so?”

I wasn’t given any further explanation as both girls dragged me toward the door. I was dressed for winter, snuggled into a knit light blue sweater and some leggings, but I had to admit that it was hot out. I’d been pretending to bask in the idea of December weather, but it looked as if those plans were changed, and I desperately rolled up my sleeves as Selphie pulled on my wrist hard enough to dislocate it. We were running toward the beach and I slapped Quistis with an incredulous look. We were not dressed for this. Sand was sloshing into my boots and I whined a little, looking around to make sure Angelo had followed us out.

She had. The Galbadian Shepherd was trotting lethargically behind us, and I could see the sour expression nestled in her eyes. Angelo was tired, we both were. We had been busting our tails to pass the SeeD exams early because I wasn’t going to be able to wait for spring to do the field work. My body…wasn’t going to allow it. “Can we slow down? What are we even doing?”

I expected Selphie to pipe up, but it was Quistis who spoke as we slowed to a stop near the waters edge. I blew out a small sigh and took in as much of the salty air as I could. The crystalline waters of Balamb’s beaches were absolutely breathtaking. The water was naturally cyan in color and clear as it could be. Tiny schools of fish were fluttering beneath the surface and Quistis chuckled at my mild awe as she worked to pin her hair back. “Here I thought  _ you  _ were the adventurous one, Noa. Relax a little.”

I never thought I’d live to see the day that  Quistis Trepe asked  _ me  _ to relax. I was just a little stressed was all, and I placed my hands behind my back gingerly as I rocked onto the balls of my feet and a small sheepish expression pinched my face. “I’m sorry…I haven’t really felt myself lately.” I was more than a little frightened, to tell the truth, but I didn’t want them to know that. I was very close friends with  Quistis’s boyfriend, Zell, and I was afraid of him knowing the worry that pricked my insides. I loved Zell, but his mouth was as large as his heart, and I didn’t need word getting back to Squall. Not yet. 

Selphie was too good to me to pry, that wasn’t her way, and she slapped a happy-go-lucky smile to her face with a determination that could have shaken the world. “Well, it’s a good thing you’ve come along with us, then! This is sure to brighten your spirits!”  Quistis nodded in agreement and I tilted my head to the side curiously as I watched Selphie rut around in a hard clump of wet sand right on the precipice of the rolling tide. “This has been buried and reburied so many times over the years I’m surprised it’s still here!”

Quistis snorted, leaning forward with her hands on her hips. She peered into the hole and shrugged her shoulders. “It wouldn’t be  were it not for the charm. Sorceresses aren’t the only one’s gifted with magic.” She insisted. It was true,  Quistis was one of the most gifted Blue Mages  Balamb Garden had ever seen. She was a talented  SeeD , and sharp as the whip she bore at her side. I was a little jealous. Bearing the gift of Hyne wasn’t exactly as luxurious as  Ultimecia had made it appear.  Quistis was so lucky that she was endowed with a graceful and more diluted form of the raw power that flowed through my veins. 

I ignored her quip and studied Selphie as she tugged what appeared to be a leather-bound diary from the mass of granular rocks and minerals. Charm indeed. It would have had to have been, for the crisp pages wrapped within its binding to remain dry and intact. Selphie hugged it to her chest and whipped around to grin at me as  Quistis shoved me backward into the sand with a forceful body  slam . “H-Hey!” 

I could hear Selphie snickering as  Quisty and I toppled over, and she pulled a dark bottle from her messenger back. “This is it, Noa! Bottoms up!” Before I had time to respond, the deep burn of bourbon was scorching the walls of my throat and I sputtered as I kicked gently at  Quistis . The other woman rolled off me in time for a stream of alcohol to heave out of me and Selphie’s brow knit with disappointment. “Aw. You were supposed to swallow it.”

I coughed hard and waved my hands at both of them in frantic confusion. “I can’t drink alcohol r-right now!” I was wheezing, unwilling to allow a single drop to pass my tonsils if I could help it. I was a pretty adventurous drinker, and I had gone on many trysts with them both to the bars in the area in the three years that I’d known them.  Quistis’s eyebrows rose in suspicion as I struggled to sit up. “What gives?”

Selphie almost scowled at me and folded her arms across her chest. “You really have spent too much time with Squall, what has happened to you? We just wanted to have some fun. All the female  SeeD’s do this before the exam, you  gotta write your name in the book and spill your biggest secret!” With  Quistis involved I somehow hadn’t expected the tradition to be something so childish and I burst into a fit of laughter as I wiped my mouth on my arm warmer. 

“That’s what this was about? You want me to get drunk on the beach and spill my deepest secret?” It was such a silly, lighthearted thing. I had a hard time picturing it being something all female SeeD’s did, but it brightened my spirits to know there were just as many out there as fun as my friends were. I had to remind myself that most SeeD’s had been at the Garden since they were small children.  Of course they shared little rituals together, they were family. A family I was more than grateful to be a part of. “Well jokes on you, Selphie  Tilmitt , I don’t need to be wined to have a good time!”

My teasing earned a chuckle from the other girl and she pressed the diary firmly against my chest with a wink of her eye. “Do it, then, if you’re so brave. No liquid courage for the mighty Sorceress!” I squinted at her, but both girls were staring at me expectantly and a pit of nervousness clawed at my insides.  _ I really...shouldn’t tell them before Squall...should I?  _ Then again, I thought, maybe they could help me out. Heat burned beneath my cheeks as I snatched a pin from  Quistis and let out a dramatic sigh. 

“Fine, but I’m peaking at yours.” I flipped through the pages to the years they had graduated and I came across Selphie’s first, since she had graduated more recently. Her name was scrawled in messy almost illegible print, and I struggled to make out the quotation etched into the paper beside it. ‘Before I transferred from  Trabia Garden, I spent a semester as their basketball team’s mascot. We were the Trabian Tidal Crabs and I had to wear an itchy used crustacean to all our games. Turns out the mascot was a little too accurate...I got pubic lice from the costume.’

My face turned red and Selphie rolled her eyes at me as I split my sides laughing. All I was picturing was a bob of flipped out brunette hair jammed into a crab with crabs. “Hey, hey, hey!  Gimme that!  Quisty’s is worse!” Selphie hissed, jerking the book from my hands and flipping even further back. “Look!” 

I wiped the stray tears from my eyes and swallowed a sharp breath, hardly able to contain myself as my eyes scanned over  Quistis’s neat cursive penmanship. ‘I would never tell Squall this...but he isn’t the only boy at Garden I’ve got my sights set on, though I. ..could never face the other. I saw Zell  Dincht stick his erect cock in pillow and hump it when we were children. He didn’t know I was there, but his dick was the length of his T-Board.’

I rolled my eyes and snorted. “It is not the length of his T-Board, you’re full of shit!”

Quistis smirked so hard I thought her lips might stretch completely off her face. “Are you sure about that? You might have snatched Squall up, but I’m the clear winner here.”  Quistis flicked her long platinum hair over her shoulders and Selphie and I both groaned. She’d always been boy obsessed, and I was sure Zell was a very happy man. She loved him  _ loudly.  _ The entire boy's dormitory knew it. “Maybe I was love stricken and exaggerating, but I swear to Hyne, if you took his penis out right now, it would be slightly longer than the book you’re reading from.”

Selphie and I glanced at one another for a moment and another burst of giggles tore through the humid air. “Okay, o-okay, I was too honest, and  Quisty is full of horse shit, so what are you  gonna come up with, Noa? Your turn!”

“Yeah, your turn!”  Quistis mimicked with too much joy. I knew she had figured it out, and she was staring at me with a smug, knowing smile. I wasn’t sure I wanted to say, but now I felt obligated. The small pen felt heavy in my hands and I swallowed hard. Everyone else's secrets seemed to be so innocent, and yet, what was weighing on my heart was completely life shattering. I could have made something up, but that felt wrong, and I sucked in a ragged breath. 

‘My name is Rinoa Heartilly...and I’m...pregnant with my commanding officer’s child.’ 


	2. Chapter 2

Quistis and Selphie were quiet for a long moment and I could feel tears welling in my eyes. I hadn’t told a soul yet, save for Angelo, who I think could sense it. She’d been sleeping with her head nuzzled against my stomach for a few weeks by then. I had told Cid I needed to take the exams early for a medical reason, and neither he nor Squall had questioned it much. I promised Squall I was alright, it was just a female issue, and he had dropped it there. I don’t know why I hadn’t just come out and told him, but I guessed I was afraid of his reaction. Squall was unpredictable sometimes.

I turned my face toward the sky and allowed myself to feel for a moment. It was a beautiful day, and the petals that fluttered with the salty breeze turned to feathers as my magic pulsed soothingly throughout my relaxed body. I didn’t have complete control over it yet, so when I really allowed myself to just…exist, the power seemed to seep gently from my pores. It was beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. I could feel it coil around my child in the center of my being, and I knew somehow I had a little Sorceress in there, a little girl. I prayed Squall wouldn’t be angry.

Selphie swatted playfully at a few of the feathers and Quistis put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “He doesn’t know, does he?” Was it that obvious, I wondered. I chewed on my bottom lip for a long moment, unsure of what to say. I loved Squall more than I loved anything, and things were finally coming together for us. We were getting married, we had a house together outside of the dorms, and I was almost a SeeD. I thought he probably wanted to enjoy being a married couple before we brought a child into the world…if he even wanted a child at all.

“Well, good!” Selphie piped up, pumping a dainty fist into the air as she winked at me. “This is the perfect opportunity for a surprise!”

Panic flooded me immediately and I shook my head so hard the morning sickness I’d been attempting to curb reared its ugly head. I was dizzy, and I choked back bile as I grabbed for Selphie’s arm. “No! Y-You can’t tell Squall, please!” I begged. Angelo didn’t like the defensive stance I was taking and her ears laid back as she growled at both my friends. She snapped at Selphie’s ankle a little, in warning, and I wagged a finger in the dog’s face. “Angelo! You stop that, she’s not hurting me.”

Angelo didn’t seem so sure and she continued to glare as Selphie backed a few paces away from us. “…I don’t understand. Jack and I would be so happy to have a little one bouncing around. Do you…not want to keep it?”

“You can’t do that.” Quistis interjected. She narrowed her eyes at me, as if she had any right to judge the situation I was in, and I scowled back at her with an anger my fiancée would have been proud of. “You can’t get rid of it and not even tell Squall it existed.”

They were both jumping to conclusions and I counted to ten in an attempt at reigning back in the flood of negative emotions. They were just concerned, there was no need for me to bite anyone’s head off. “You don’t have to be mean.” My hands fluttered toward my midsection and I rubbed it gently. “Of course I want her. She’s part of Squall.”

Selphie perked back up considerably and opened her mouth, no doubt to ask me what the big deal was then, but she and Quistis both paled three shades suddenly as I heard the rustling of combat boots tromping through sand behind us. “Who’s part of me?” Angelo’s tail started wagging and she relaxed as a pair of strong hands found their home at my hips. It was Squall.

Quistis dropped the book back into the hole they had dug and kicked several piles of sand back over it as she threaded her fingers between Selphie’s and coughed. Too hard. “Erm, would you look at the time. Sorry Squall, Selphie and I gotta split, we’ll see you both back at Garden.”  _ Gee. Thanks for the moral support _ . I lamented, regretting ever venturing out there with them as I turned to smile at my fiancée. I wondered what he was doing on the beach, but I assumed he’d gone off looking for me. I was usually at home waiting at the door for him when he got back from missions. I had missed him so much.

I lightly traced the scar that ran diagonally between his eyes and he smirked as he caught my fingers and brought them to his lips to kiss. “Squally.” His face twisted into mock disgust at the nickname, but he couldn’t hide the delight shining in those steel blue eyes. He pulled me closer to him and gingerly toyed with the Griever ring that dangled at my breasts.

“Rinoa,” Squall leaned forward, stopping his lips just an inch from my own as his forehead pressed to mine. “No reunion kiss until you answer me.” He was being playful, but I was terrified, and his smile fell as a small whimper squeaked from my throat. His gloved fingers were in my hair at an instant and he cradled my head against his chest. “What’s wrong? If someone hurt you, I swear to Hyne I’ll—”

“No,” I whispered softly. “It’s not that.” 

I could see in his eyes that he didn’t understand. His frown deepened and I bit the inside of my cheek hard as I reached for his hands. I pressed one to the slight bloat of my stomach and held it there, swallowing with difficulty as my lungs burned with panic. He let out a small snort and recoiled a little, as if he was irritated with my antics. “Shit, Noa, don’t scare me like that. If you’re hungry say so.”

He didn’t take me seriously until the tears started. I was playful and childish and I liked to get on his nervous—but if I was crying, he knew something was bad wrong. I hated to cry. Guilt twisted his handsome features into an expression that broke my heart. He always took my moods so serious, as if he were the sole cause of both my happiness and despair. “Babe, I didn’t mean...are you having cramps? Does it hurt? I’ll take you home, you shouldn’t have let Selphie drag you out here if you’re in pain--”

“Squall.” My voice was razor edged, but for only a moment, and I shuddered as a violent sob shook my chest. I shook my head at him and desperately clung to his chest as he rubbed soothing circles into my arms. His eyes were bleeding with concern and I hated to see him so worried over me. I just needed to say it. I couldn’t hide it forever; the baby would get larger every passing day. Our baby. “I’m p-pregnant.” 

He staggered backward; his eyes were glued to my stomach. He jerked his arm out to the side and shook his head wildly as several tears rolled silently down his pointed chin. “Rinoa that isn’t funny.” I thought he was angry for a moment, and my heart completely shattered. “You can’t...you can’t be pregnant. I’m not...I don’t...”

I didn’t know how to react and my fight or flight kicked in. “If you don’t want her that’s fine, I’ll just—I'm sorry.” I turned away from him, but he lunged forward before I could move. He shrugged his jacket off and wrapped it around my arms, tugging my entire body back into his embrace as he crushed his lips down against my own. The heat between us was sweltering and a humid rain was beginning to sprinkle, though Squall didn’t care move. His tongue assaulted my own, rolling my sweater up to get a feel of my flat tummy. The baby was a tiny blip in there, but his hands roamed tenderly anyway, as if he were  afraid she wasn’t real.

“You didn’t let me finish.” He whispered. Thunder cracked overhead and the rain picked up as he squished me tighter into the protective shield of his coat. “Noa, I’m not...I’m not worthy of being this child’s father. I don’t have any example to follow, I. ..I don’t know how.” His pouty lips quivered a little and he avoided my gaze as he snuggled the length of his nose against my own. “It would be selfish of me to beg you to keep it.”

My heart was confused. I couldn’t tell if he was overjoyed or devastated, he wasn’t making it easy. “Speak plainly, Squall, please. You’ve never been one to mince words, don’t start now.” I sniffled a little and my hands slid over his own as we held our child for the first time. “Do you want our baby? It’s okay, if you don’t. I just need to know.” I looked up at him from underneath my eyelashes and made hard eye contact. I needed him to know I was being genuine. I wanted Squall to be honest about his feelings. That was all I’d ever asked of him.

It was like the words ‘our baby’ had slapped him in the face and something deep in his eyes changed. Every ounce of ice that had ever lived there melted and his fingers couldn’t seem to get as close as he wanted to the baby. He petted my midsection aggressively and he dropped his gaze to stare at it with a longing I hadn’t seen in a long time. “I already love her. Is that...weird?” 

I kissed a single tear from his cheek and a small giggle lit my heart in pure relief as I buried my face in the crook of his neck. “No. I love her too.” 

“Then...you have my answer.” My face must have lit like a Christmas tree, because when he got a look at my expression, the most joyful smile crossed his face and he spun me around in his arms before bringing me back down into another searing kiss. “I’ll be her Knight.” He whispered against my lips. “You have my word.” 


	3. Chapter 3

A small mewling sound stirred me from my dreams that sticky July morning. It was still dark out, barely four o’clock, and the warmth encapsulating the embrace I shared with my husband was a cocoon I didn’t wish to wake from. Yet, the small wiggling child that was sprawled on her father’s chest was worth it, and I yawned as I sat and reached to pull her into my arms.

Squall grunted and peeped an eye open at me as his arms coiled tighter around our fussy newborn. She was probably hungry, but he was adamant that I lay back down. “I’ve got her. You rest.” I knew part of it was because he knew the birth had been hard on me, and he wanted to make sure I was taken care of, but a lot of it was also his desire to spend time with our daughter. She’d been born into his arms, and I’d never seen Squall so attached to something in all our years together. It made me happy.

Julia Raine had come on July fourteenth, just a few weeks shy of her expected arrival. She was beyond beautiful; a perfect blend of her father and I. She had been our Christmas miracle. Squall had left the tree up in our living room, and every month that had passed since we found out she was coming was merely an extended December. Time had seemed to slow to a stop, and we had coiled one another in a pocket of suspended bliss. I smiled. “Squall, she’s hungry.”

Julia’s tiny little hands flailed in search of a breast and she tugged on the neck of her father’s old t-shirt. Her tiny little voice gurgled at him angrily and caressed the chunk of her cheeks with the side of his index finger. “Daddy’s sorry, munchkin.” He lamented so quietly I almost didn’t catch it. “I don’t have any, but I wish I did.”

Ironically enough, it had been warm in Balamb when she had been conceived right before the holidays, but now that it was summer the Garden was spending a week in Trabia and snow was pelting the windows hard. We were back in a dorm while the Garden was traveling, and I smiled at the flurry of snowflakes that wept with joy from the heavens for our daughter’s birth. She was barely a week old. “Mommy does.” I held my arms out expectantly and Squall relented to sliding the little girl onto my chest. “Good morning Julie.”

I kissed the top of my child’s head and I could feel Squall watching us as his arms tugged me possessively to his side. We both were dreading the mission that waited once the Garden reached its final destination. I was officially a graduated SeeD, but I would be left behind on maternity leave while my husband was thrown into the fray. It was hard to swallow, but with us both being tied to the Garden now, I supposed it was the future we were destined for. A sudden sadness filled my eyes and I might have cried were it not for the gentle kiss Squall pressed to my temple. “What is it that you always tell me? Don’t overthink about it?”

Squall’s voice was reassuring, and he kissed me again, rougher, as he titled my chin to gain better access to my mouth. I lapped at his sweet tongue and groaned as Julia found her way to my nipple and latched on hard. “I’m going to miss you, now more than ever.” Julia grunted a little as she guzzled her breakfast and the adoration that oozed from Squall didn’t go unnoticed. He petted her brunette hair just as gently as he could and squeezed me.

“I know. I don’t like the thought of being away from either of you. But guess what?” Squall smirked at me. “Cid approved my application for a teaching position, effective after we leave Trabia. You two will be seeing a lot more of me.”

Pure bliss exploded onto my face and I could feel Squall vibrate affection and excitement in equal measure as he drank in the sheer happiness I exuded. I knew he had done that for no one but us. Squall wasn’t one for eyes being on him, he hadn’t enjoyed being promoted to Commander. I never thought I’d see the day he willfully asked to be in charge of a classroom full of kids. “Instructor Leonhart has a good ring to it, don’t you think?” I purred, wiggling my eyebrows at him as he leaned in for another kiss.

“It does when it means I’ll be home with my wife and daughter.” I wanted to cry, breaking eye contact with my husband only to glance at the precious gift we had made together. Julia was so special. Her face was my own, but those eyes and hair were all her father and I could already see her little personality shining through. She was going to be a Daddy’s girl. She reached a tiny hand to coil around Squall’s pinkie as she drank, and the most smitten smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I have a surprise for both of you.”

My eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

Our eight months of Christmas didn’t seem to be over, and Squall gestured broadly to new presents under the tree that hadn’t been there the night prior. I couldn’t have hidden my amusement if I’d tried and I laughed at the spark of joy in his step as he bounded over to the large stack. Squall had been a different person since I’d told him he was going to be a father. Not entirely, he was still the man I’d fallen in love with at his core, but some things had been noticeably different. There was an intense warmth inside of him that hadn’t been there before. “I guess it’s less my surprise and more Zell’s.” Squall scratched the back of his head and shrugged. “He’ll be here shortly.”

As if on cue, a loud rapping on the door startled our daughter. Julia pulled back from my breast a little and let out a loud cry, to which her father’s expression slightly soured. There was the man I’d married, I thought with a laugh. He frowned deeply at the notion that anything dared disturb his princess and he glared at the door a little as he ambled toward it. Zell and Quistis both were on the other end, and Zell offered us a bright smile as he forced Squall into a hug. “Christmas in July, huh? I had no idea you two were so festive.”

Squall was feeling significantly less so with Zell being so touchy, I could tell, but he grumbled out a barely audible platitude and put up with it as he ushered the pair inside. Zell crossed his ankles and leaned against the door, watching Quistis with a careful eye as she slowly made her way to the tree and knelt down. She’d been wearing a lot of loose, long coats, which was odd for her, even in the cold of the Trabian mountains. The long rustic orange cardigan pulled around her slender frame fanned out on the floor as she made herself comfortable and she patted the spot beside her. “Plenty of room, Squall. Or are you just gonna stand there like a knot on a log?”

“…whatever. Zell is standing too, he should sit there.” Squall was more inclined to climb up on the bed with me, which he did. His hands immediately flew to Julia’s head, propping her up for better support as she struggled to get comfortable after her little spook. “It’s not that we are festive.” He explained. “Julia spent Christmas inside Rinoa. I thought she might want look at the lights, and I wanted to get her things.”

Zell grinned at the sweet response to his quip, though he didn’t move to sit with his girlfriend. He was hovering at the door with his eyes on her, as if he were afraid to move someplace he couldn’t readily spring into action to protect her from. It was as awkward as it was alarming, and I narrowed my eyes at them both. “Care to explain what’s going on?”

The radiant boyish smile painted on Zell’s lips never waivered and his gait swayed a little with what I assumed was excitement. He looked like a child in a candy store, and Quistis was struggling to hide her own flagrant joy behind her cool demeanor. Something was up. Quistis’s face was a little rounder than I remembered and the gentle glow of Christmas lights in the darkness softened her sharp features. I knew Squall had to have known, he’d invited them over at such an odd hour of the morning, and I knit my brow as I turned to look at him. His eyes were still glued to our baby, but he addressed me as he spoke. “Take a harder look at Quistis.”

I winced a little as Julia decided to chew on my nipple with her little gums. She wasn’t hungry anymore, she was soothing herself, and I didn’t have to heart to pull her away from me. I was a mother now. Her mother. It was the single greatest thing I’d ever done with my life, and I’d have taken any pain to know that my child was felt comfort and love. It was then that it hit me, and my mouth hung slightly ajar as Quistis finally nodded at the understanding that washed across my face. She pulled the cardigan back and wrapped her hands around a prominent little bump. “Garnet Laurel Dincht will be making an appearance in October.” She admitted.

That meant she was six months gone already and I searched my husband’s eyes for any indication that he’d known before that day. How could they have hidden it from us? Quistis looked like she was measuring small, but that wasn’t the point. She had known eight short weeks into my pregnancy that I was going to be a mother. “They just now announced it, I think.” Squall said quickly, eager to avoid my feelings of mild betrayal. “They told me last night. I wanted to surprise you, since I knew we would be celebrating a second Christmas today. They’ve…asked us to be her godparents.”

“We’d have announced it sooner, but…” Quistis looked sad for a moment and Zell cleared his throat.

“We wanted to make sure she was alright, first. Quisty has been a little sick.” Squall and I exchanged a panicked glance, but Zell put his hands up as quickly as the emotions tore through us. “Everything is goin’ great, according to Dr. K. Quistis’s gestational diabetes is being well managed. Garnet is going to be healthy as a horse, they told us yesterday!”

Quistis’s lips quivered and she rubbed her small belly as Zell finally peeled himself off the door to be nearer to her. “It’s a miracle. She’s a perfect miracle, no abnormalities to speak of, strong heartbeat. She’s going to be Julie’s best friend; I just know it.” Tears were running down my face all of a sudden, and those pesky postpartum hormones were wreaking havoc on my body. I was so happy for them. Zell and  Quistis had been together almost as long as Squall and I had been. Something had changed after  Ultimecia . They had seen something beautiful in one another during the Time Compression, and I was grateful they had found what had perhaps been buried all along.

“We have to tell Selphie she has to catch up then, she’s our best friend!” I sniffled, pulling Julia up on my shoulder in an attempt at getting her to burp. Zell and  Quistis smirked at one another and I turned suspicious eyes toward my husband as he pressed a tender kiss to the crook of my neck. “Squall Leonhart...no more--”

I was going to say no more surprises, but Squall’s smirk was stretching thin across his face as he reached a gloved hand toward our nightstand. He pulled his cell from its charging station and opened a text from Selphie time stamped from several hours before. It was a photo captioned “You’re my  moogle ...and we baked a  moogle CAKE!”. Jack was standing behind her and his arms were wrapped around her tiny waist holding a positive pregnancy test flat against her middle while she reached around to pinch his ‘cake’. For a moment I didn’t know how to react, but my heart was bursting with joy as Squall cupped my cheek with the palm of his hand. “We did it, Rinoa.” He whispered, wrapping a finger around Julia’s tiny hand. “None of us are alone anymore.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Characters belong to Square Enix.


End file.
